Many types of consumer-grade and industrial-grade machine tools pose consequential danger to operators who are either unaware of safe practices, not sufficiently experienced in the machine's use, or who have developed generally unsafe operating practices. The table saw is a prime example of such machines, as reflected by their grim safety record over the past century. Other examples of such machine tools are: broaching machines; drill presses; gear shapers; hobbing machines; hones; lathes; screw machines; milling machines; sheet metal shears; shapers; saws; planer; Stewart platform mills; grinding machines and pallet disassemblers.
Safety features such as blade guards are provided by machinery manufacturers; however, often it is not possible to review a machine's operating history including the use of safety guards, the frequency of operation and other parameters. After a serious accident occurs, it is usually not possible to review the history of the machine's operation and the safety configuration at the time of an accident, including whether or not the recommended safety guards were in use. The result of this lack of operating data is needless speculation, during subsequent product liability litigation, about how to allocate fault between the operator and the manufacturer for a given injury, leading to difficult-to-predict damage awards. Injury statistics over the last decade indicate the “status quo” leads to table saws alone causing at least ten amputations per day in the United States, which represents its own societal cost, in excess of 2.5 billion dollars.
Micro-technology advances have made it possible to economically monitor existing machine tools to record and improve operator safety through knowledge gained from long-term “black-box” data logging as well as through providing precise micro-control of an emergency motor braking feature. In addition to countless industrial machines, the universe of such machines has been shown to include consumer-grade machines such as table saws near the mid-point of the high-end of the price spectrum. The operating history summary may also be displayed, to further warn machine operators if basic safe practices are not being followed. All machine status changes are recorded and may be reviewed, and the complete log read, externally at any time. The monitoring equipment can be configured to generate warnings to recommend and/or require that safe operating practices be followed.
In the event of an injury or incident requiring review, the machine may be remotely disabled, pending an investigation. The recorded history of the subject machine may also be read at any time for analysis by employers, insurance carriers or other stakeholders. Employment of the device of the present invention is expected to be solely at the discretion of the machine tool owner.